A&E is top despite pressure

The A&E department at Wigan Infirmary

WIGAN’S A&E is still one of the best performing departments in the country despite a tough winter according to the latest official statistics.

During the 12-months ending March 17, 2014, Wigan Infirmary’s A&E treated 95.8 per cent of patients within four hours, the vast majority of those patients in much less than four hours.

Overall, Wigan Infirmary has one of the best A&E departments in the country and was the best performing department in Greater Manchester during 2013, and second in the whole North West with a performance of 96.1 per cent in achieving the national four-hour target.

Fiona Noden, Director of Performance and Operations, said: “Despite A&E being as busy as ever and February being a particularly challenging month, Wigan Infirmary staff have again risen to the challenge and continue to provide an Accident and Emergency service our borough can be proud of. I would like to extend my sincere thanks to them all.”

“Our dedicated A&E staff work extremely hard to treat and care for very poorly patients. We thank the public and ask them to support the NHS Choose Well campaign and think twice about the best place to seek treatment.”

However, in recent weeks the department has struggled and the statistics for the past seven days reveal that there 1,760 attendances at A&E, of which 93 per cent were seen within four hours.

There were also 45 ambulances forced to queue outside A&E in the past week.

Gordon Miles, of the College of Emergency Medicine, said: “This winter has been better than anticipated, but many areas are under severe pressure. A lack of flu has been a big factor in performance being maintained.”